Abstract

Although fair amount of data on the levels of atmospheric pollutants, such as SO42-,NO3-, NH4+, trace elements, O3 and recently VOC’s had been generated in both eastern and western parts of the Mediterranean basin, information on the source regions of these pollutants is scarce. In this study, source regions affecting chemical composition of atmospheric aerosols and precipitation at two sampling locations, which are located on the Mediterranean and Black Sea costs of Turkey, are investigated using trajectory statistics. Concentrations of major ions and trace elements in both aerosols and precipitation are high compared to literature data reported for comparable sites in Europe and North America. Multivariate statistics have revealed that aerosol in these two sites is composed of crustal, marine and two separate anthropogenic components. Analysis that bases on residence times of upper atmospheric air masses and emissions have demonstrated different potential source regions that can affect eastern, western Mediterranean and the Black Sea. True source regions affecting eastern Mediterranean atmosphere is investigated using three commonly used approached in trajectory statistics. Results have shown that the main source regions are the countries on the western coast of the Mediterranean and Balkans. The contributions of central and eastern European countries are not as significant. All of the three trajectory statistics methods give similar general features of distribution of source regions. However, distant source regions are more heavily weighted in redistributed concentration fields and 3D PSCF.

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